Snapchat Context Cards Open To Advertisers, Starting With Lionsgate’s Wonder

Starting today, advertisers can attach a Knowledge Graph-based Context Card to Snaps that feature their Lens or Filter ad -- for free.

By David KaplanNov 13, 2017 2:08PM

Marketers will now be able to use Snapchat’s place-based information Context Cards to connect image sharing platform’s to a Lens or Filter ad.

Snapchat’s Context Cards debuted last month. The feature helps Snapchat users learn location-related details about what they’re looking at within the app. The information is sourced from third–party app partners such as Foursquare, TripAdvisor, Michelin, and Goop, and represents the clearest way for brands that manage their online listings to get in front of the image sharing platform’s 173 million daily users.

Context Cards also offer connections to ride-hailing apps Uber and Lyft, as well as reservation platforms Open Table, Resy, and Bookatable to further make the online/offline link between the app and consumers in the real world.

Coming To A Snapchat Near You

Lionsgate is first marketer to use the Context Cards, which are available to Lens or Filter advertisers with no additional charge. as their National Lens today will help drive traffic to a movie times site for their film Wonder, starring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson and opening on Friday, Nov. 17.

The Context Cards encourages Snapchat users to swipe up and access more details from any friend’s Snap that features a Sponsored Lens or Filter.

Users will see a Context Card, which is a link to a brand’s chosen URL.

If tapped, the user is taken to that website (without leaving Snapchat). In the future, advertisers will be able to deep-link into their app, among other options. Users will see these only when viewing Snaps, not when creating or playing in the camera. Snapchat plans to rollout Context Cards to additional markets in early 2018.

Snapchat’s Context Card, which is attached to a Filter promoting the Lionsgate film Wonder, directs users to ticket sales — without leaving the app.

Snapping The Knowledge Graph

Snap’s creation of Context Cards reflects the broader desire of brands and consumers to assist real world activity with immediate information around Digital Presence, including a business’s or service’s address, hours of operation, reviews, social media profile, contact, and more.

As GeoMarketing’s Lauryn Chamberlain notes, “the Knowledge Graph was popularized by Google, which launched the Google Knowledge Graph back in 2012 in a bid to provide users with structured answers to their queries — not just blue links.”

In other words, the Knowledge Graph ‘understands’ facts about places, people, and things, and it uses this information to give more relevant information to searchers, Chamberlain writes. This Google Knowledge Graph is usually what people are talking about when they use the term “knowledge graph” to refer to getting structured answers on the web that, through algorithms, become smarter over time.

As for Snap and Snapchat brands, using this kind of broad-based information could help improve engagement and ad performance on its platform. Over the past year, campaigns with a Lens or Filter drove a 16 point lift in ad awareness, 8 point lift in brand awareness, and 5 point lift in action intent on average, according Snapchat In-App polling powered by Nielsen Brand Effect.

In terms of the value of the Context Card itself, the additional real-estate to include info so Snapchatters can access greater detail about a product, business, film, game, item. Plus, it helps solve the problem of mobile’s narrow screen, relative to desktop.

As more users shift to mobile, addressing the space issue on mobile is paramount.

While this feature is not intended as a performance marketing tool (such as Snap Pixel), brands get additional metrics, including impressions on the Context Card and clickthroughs.

So for a retailer running a Lens or Filter ad highlighting a coupon can then employ the Context Card to let a consumer contact restaurant directly or make a reservation (if it’s available) via Open Table, Bookatable, or Resy, and even get an Uber or Lyft to take them there — all without leaving Snapchat.